Moments of Humanity
by Mindy Morganna
Summary: Sometimes, they stop being killers and hackers and spys. Underneath, they still have souls. Series of oneshots about various characters interactions. Spoilers for series 8 and 9.
1. Beth and Ruth

**Hello! This is my first Spooks story, and I have no idea how something that isn't laden with Harry/Ruth fluff or Lucas angst will fly to be honest. Still, should be fun. Characters from series 9 so far but if there is interest I may add some Ros, possibility Jo…..we'll see, nothing is set in stone. **

**Enjoy…**

When she first arrived Beth wasn't really sure of the TV etiquette, did Ruth watch television? Ruth was equally nervous, surely Beth would find her tastes dull and boring, but equally she didn't think she could sit through an episode of the X-Factor either.

It came to a head on Saturday night, were Ruth usually settled in to watch Strictly Come Dancing, if she wasn't at the office. It was a world so far removed from her own, glitter instead of guns, waltzes instead of weapons and nothing any judge had ever said comes close to Harry in a cold rage.

She's back from the Grid, by chance on Saturday by five, and Beth comes in forty-five minutes later. They both glance at the clock and relief flashes across Beth's face.

"Waiting for something?" Ruth questions distractedly, mind already back on her crossword. Six letters, a companion or close acquaintance.

"Not much…just something I used to do when I could get English telly" Beth checked the clock again and moved to the kitchen "tea?"

"Lovely" Ruth couldn't focus, she sighed and switched on the television, colours danced across as the show started.

Beth wandered in, almost shyly. "Is that…?" "It's this …celebrity dancing show, silly really but very easy watching, I can switch over if you like" Ruth realised she was babbling, and stopped.

The younger woman sat down slowly, her eyes never leaving the screen. "I used to watch this, practise the moves when no one was watching…." Beth tailed off and Ruth felt a surge of warmth for this woman.

The kettle hissed and Ruth jumped up to get it, as she passed the table where the crossword lay she stopped.

Six letters, companion. Ruth turned to look at Beth, already engrossed in the program.

Across

5. A companion or close acquaintance (6)

Lightly, then firmer, Ruth pencilled in the answer. _Friend._

**You know the drill, review and thou shalt be rewarded muchly. **


	2. Tariq and Dimitri

**First of all I want to thank all the people who reviewed so far, your comments are very welcome and I will defiantly try and expand on the Beth/Ruth friendship.**

**Next up, these characters are most woefully underused and I think there is great potential between them, happy reading….**

Dimitri had been in some strange situations (being handcuffed to a transsexual stripper in a Bengali nightclub springs to mind), yet seeing Tariq shopping, outside the Grid may well be even odder. It was like seeing a teacher outside school.

Tariq hadn't seen him yet, he was too busy loading his trolley with mini-marshmallows, which gave Dimitri a moment to stare.

Away from the ghoulish glow of computer screens the techie was rather good-looking. Although Dimitri had defiantly not just thought that. He decided he should start dating again; the lack of human company was wearing on the soul.

"Hey, Dimitri!" The young man had finished stocking his trolley with worrying amounts of sugar and looked delighted to see his colleague. Tariq checked out Dimitri's food supply in a way that made the man worry for his flirting technique, and raised his eyebrows. "Gourmet Meal for One?" He smirked.

"You can't talk, is that shampoo? Seriously?"

"Just because I have hair doesn't mean you can _mock _meDimitri."

"I choose to have my hair like this!"

"Hair loss…and we all know what that's caused by…"

"You are way cockier outside the office you know." He couldn't help himself and grinned, partly at Tariq's T-shirt (a penguin, in sunglasses) and partly at the sheer relief at talking to someone without using the words "assassinate" or "terrorist".

Tariq shifted slightly and swallowed. He was nervous Dimitri realised, nervous that he had in fact crossed a line and the spy would quietly kill him using one of plastic forks from the café. It was saddening, and also the reason Dimitri asked his next question.

"So, after you are done….fancy coming to the pub with me?" Tariq's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he smiled, a proper one this time and nodded.

"Only if you tell me about your shark-wrestling." Damm Ruth and her loud voice, Dimitri looked at Tariq's pathetically eager smile and realised this was going to have to be one heck of a story.

**This idea of them becoming BFFs was all Hestia8's idea. She does amazing Spooks recaps and wrote a list of great fic ideas. You can find her here: ****.com/****. Defiantly worth it if you too wish there were more Tariq-lovers out there.**

**Again, thankyou so much for the reviews so far and keep them coming!**


	3. Lucas and Harry

**Again, thanks to my beautiful reviewers, I agree Rambling Scribe, Tariq and Dimitri are totally secrete BFFs. One day I may well write the stripper story.**

**This was impossible to write, but also rather jolly. Most improbable to date but hey, we all saw last episode. Improbable is good.**

"Harry, we've got a situation." Lucas sounded tired, but also bemused. Considering this was a combination that was unusual for the black-haired spook (he preferred to pair tired with heroic and bemused with hurt) Harry was interested.

"Go on."

"I got a call from reception saying there was an unknown object delivered. Harry-it's for you." Harry sat up instantly, already reaching for his half finished glass of brandy.

"What sort of object?"

"Looks like a crate, something you might store wine in….." Lucas tailed off as he presumably inspected the object more closely.

The glass was empty, Harry went to pour some more, too exhausted to do more then wonder why people were so unsubtle in there murder attempts.

Oh.

"Lucas, just bring it up." There was silence as Lucas tried to work out if his boss had called for a possible bomb to be brought right into the heart of British intelligence.

"Harry?"

"I know what it is" he couldn't keep the amusement from his voice anymore.

"Well what is it then?" Lucas couldn't keep the annoyance from his.

"It's brandy. My brandy to be precise."

Harry could hear Lucas sigh, could almost see the slight turning of his head that signified disbelief. "Are you joking?"

"I don't joke about good alcohol, especially when it costs as much as this lot does."

He glanced at the clock, it was late, it was cold and he needed another drink before he could face paperwork.

"Bring it up Lucas and if you're good I'll let you have a glass." Faces of dead civilians stared forlornly up at him from their passport photos, taken when MI5 was just an exciting myth to them.

"Come on Lucas, God knows in this job we all need a drink sometimes."

**Turned Harry into an alkie…oops. Please review O Children of Light.**


	4. HS, Harry and Tariq

**Sorry about the wait….hard to get my brain into gear for this one**. **Thankyou for they great reviews – Apollo199199 I agree, I half expect the last episode of this series for Harry to say "Lucas…I am your father."**

**Disclaimer: Insert witty comment about the fact I don't own Spooks, never will and how sad I am about it.**

If the man hadn't sworn loudly Tariq would have walked straight past him, he was mentally going over the infra-red facial recognition scans and nearly had a heart-attack at the profanities uttered seemingly at random by the large blonde man.

"Are you…oh Home Secretary sir?" Tariq didn't know whether to bow or shake his hand, so settled on a sort of curtsy. Smooth as always.

"Why I seemed to have suffered from some sort of hideous amnesia and forgotten who I am, thank God for you!" Snapped the HS, before returning to his phone, muttering curses under his breath.

A lesser man (or possibly just one who spent less time with Lucas) might have been hurt, but Tariq was already more focused on helping the HS with his current, fixable, crisis.

"Sorry sir, but you phone looks like it has a technical glitch of some kind….I might be able to work it out for you…."

The HS grunted "No offence kiddie, but I have important stuff on this and I don't need a tea-boy fiddling around with it."

"I'm not a tea-boy, I, I work for Sir Harry, I'm his technical expert actually."

The HS started at Tariq, taking in the casual clothes, the youth, the hair.

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, in that case here, knock yourself out. Can't receive a text message that's the problem."

"Yep, your problem is the amount of memory on here, it's too much for the phone to handle, causing it to overheat and slow down significantly….I would suggest stop downloading the amount of apps…or I could build you a bigger memory disk."

His eyes had gone slightly glassy but the idea of more apps lit up the HS' face.

"You can do that?"

"By the end of your meeting with Sir Harry if you leave it with me. Are you here for long sir?

"Just an informal visit to check up, snoop around etc. In fact while you are here if you could show me to Section D before my minder finds me, there's a good boy."

Harry rose to greet the HS, only to find him already grinning.

"Harry, your people are marvellous! Lovely blond made me some coffee and your techie is fixing my phone. He's probably gay considering he curtsied to me but you can't have everything."

"Yes, well, they're a great team." Said Harry quietly, inwardly reminding himself to tell them all more often.

**I love the idea of the HS snooping around the Grid….he's my favourite to date methinks.**

**Please review. For me? Also please tell me if you have any ideas or parings you would like me to write, I'm open to suggestion!  
**


	5. Dimitri and Lucas

**Hello darhling ones, sorry for the long wait, luckily the great thing about one-shots is there are no cliff-hangers to work out so I was planning on kicking back until Novindalf gave me a lovely review (or two) and I changed my mind.**

**Based on the line "have a skinfull, start again tomorrow." Because I just know Dimitri and Lucas are drinking buddies.**

**A/N****: Brief reference to chapter 2.**

It had just been one of those days. Enough paperwork for it to be boring, until one was reminded the work documented war-crimes in Iraq and civilians dead due to an oversight by the bomb disposal team.

Speaking of bomb disposal…. Dimitri appeared, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at Lucas's desk.

"Oi, Lucas, feel like submerging your sorrows in a pint with me?"

"Not tonight." He brushed him off and returned to the report, only to be interrupted again by his younger co-worker.

"Look mate, it's been a long day and tomorrow will be longer. Can't you lighten up just _once_?" When Lucas didn't answer Dimitri groaned in frustration "I'm not asking you to marry me! It's ONE drink."

Of course, Dimitri always had a way with words, so ten minutes later they exited the building and wandered in the dusk towards the nearest watering holes.

"This one" Dimitri decided firmly. He had stopped outside a fairly ambiguous pub with smoky windows and subdued air.

"Why?" There was nothing wrong with it, but they had passed several on the way that looked friendlier.

Dimitri looked vaguely shifty. "Tariq and I haven't been thrown out of this one yet. But it is near Tesco so I want to make the most of it." Giving no explanation to this bewildering and frankly worrying statement, the spy strode through the door into the low-lit room. Lucas followed, amused.

Two hours later, and both men were perched on bar stools, a companionable silence stretched between then. They had talked about newspapers and football and the best place for live comedy. Dimitri told Lucas he was a secrete fan of American rock-pop, Lucas told him he saved all the Harry Potter books and read them in one week. They compared non-work related scars (oddly enough both men had been bitten by horses) and discussed the merits of romantic films.

"Time to head home I think" Dimitri slurred slightly, dragging himself towards the ladies toilets. Lucas gently steered him the right way and crashed into a pool table. The barman regarded them wearily and Lucas could tell he thought they were just ordinary blokes, going home to their wives and dogs.

They were so much more then that, but they were also so much less.

Lucas watched Dimitri stagger into the street, still managing to flirt with two middle-aged ladies as he fell over their umbrellas. He caught sight of himself in a passing car, smiling without a care in world.

Drink didn't make anything better, but friends did.

**Gosh, it got rather soppy towards the end, but hey ho. I wrote this in about 30 seconds before inspiration abandoned me, so I apologise for lack of quality.**

**Please review, or I'll…I'll….well I'll be jolly upset.**


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